Trash My TBR

Hey guys! I’m super excited- my tennis season just finished, so I’ve discovered the new phenomenon of “free time”, and I’m really hoping to be able to blog and read a lot more consistently for a while at least. No promises… But I’m definitely trying, and I have some fun ideas! (Let me know in the comments if you have any post ideas/tags/books that you want me to do/get to, and I’ll make them a priority.) Anyway, the post I have for you today is super simple, except that it requires participation. From YOU! I initially saw this idea/series on Sylwia’s BookTube channel, Wish Fulfillment (and am still entirely obsessed with the series), but I believe the idea was created by Drinking By My Shelf, so please check both of them out because they’re fabulous, and of course, their videos could use your participation as well!

The way that Trash My TBR works is that I will show you the 50 oldest books on my Goodreads TBR (that I don’t own), and you will… trash them. Seriously. My Goodreads TBR has technically improved in number (it used to be around 800 books a while ago), but after culling it a couple times, it just seems to climb right back up, and I’m currently sitting at 567 to-read books. That might seem like a lot to some of you, and not very much at all to others, but it is more than I’d like to have (it’s rather overwhelming), and I’d really rather not waste my time on bad books. Which, statistically, some of those 567 will be. THEREFORE, I need you to tell me which ones to get rid of. Bye bye. Gone.

Tl;dr – tell me which of these books NOTto read. I thought it was really smart of Sylwia to give some guidelines, so I’m pretty much copying hers. Let me know if:

There are problematic elements to the book. Occasionally I can look past that, but that’s a very rare occurrence for me, so I’d rather just avoid them entirely. It’s not healthy for me to continue to support problematic books when there are clearly so many others for me to choose from.

The author has said or done problematic/derogative things. I’m aware that some people can separate the art from the artist, but I’m not one of them. As soon as I learn something bad about the author, their books are forever tainted in my eyes. It’s even worse if I actually read the books and THEN found out something about them- it just gives me a mild existential crisis and a headache. I’d much rather support good people than… well, you know.

You rated the book one, two, or even three stars. And yes, please do include three stars as well. This one is super simple. I just don’t want to read bad books. I know some people definitely consider three stars to be a good rating, and while I don’t entirely disagree, it’s not an amazing rating. It’s just kind of a “meh”, “boring”, “whatever” rating. I don’t want to read “whatever” books. I want to read my all-time new favorite book… Every time I read a book.

And that’s it! Super straightforward, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Please comment and participate. How sad would it be if NOBODY participated? Very. Very sad. I appreciate every single one of you. But it will be slightly easier to appreciate you if you leave a comment down below. 😉 It doesn’t even have to be cohesive sentences! Lists are perfect acceptable too. I adore lists. Okay, I’m excessively wordy and weird and you want to see the books.

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Reboot by Amy Tintera

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Feed by Mira Grant

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

The Agency by Y.S. Lee

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Splintered by A.G. Howard

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

The Art of Secrets by James Klise

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Jackaby by William Ritter

The Memory Book by Lara Avery

What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Lies I Told by Michelle Zink

Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Gone by Michael Grant

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

When We Collided by Emery Lord

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

World After by Susan Ee

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Whew! That is a LIST. I hope you saw some books you recognized! If you haven’t disliked any of these books, I guess it’s okay for you to leave a comment about which ones I should prioritize instead. But it’s highly recommended that you trash the heck out of my TBR. Have at it, guys! Thanks for putting up with my crazy schemantics (is that even a word? Google literally can’t even decide. Someone help me, I’m a mess).

Love you LOTS, Amy Lou ❤

Go, recruit more book addicts! What? I did not say anything of the sort!

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23 thoughts on “Trash My TBR”

The only one I can really trash is The Winner’s Crime. I’ve read the complete trilogy and while I really enjoyed the first 2, the 3rd book was so disappointing that I have absolutely no desire to re-read the books and actually wish I never did read them. It’s different, but the ending just didn’t work. The other books I have read on your list I can’t trash. Good luck!!

Thanks for your comment! That’s definitely too bad but understandable- it’s been a while since I read the first book, and I honestly remember nothing, so I don’t really care that much to pick it up. Thank you so much for participating! I’m excited to cut down my TBR! XD

LOVE:
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (one of my all time favorites EVER)
Jackaby (super fun, think Doctor Who meets Sherlock)
The Diviners (another one of my all time favorites, super spooky with an amazing setting)

OK:
The Bone Season (kind of controversial because it kind of seems like a slave is falling in love with his “master” type deal, but it was pretty interesting)
Between the Lines (was just ok, honestly forgot i read it until i saw it on the list)
Rebel of the Sands (it was just simply ok. i won’t be continuing with the series)
Something Strange & Deadly (i was bored and didn’t enjoy the writing style, plus i don’t really like reading about zombies)
The Girl from Everywhere (i DNF’d but am thinking about giving it another try since i do love time travel)
Landline (alot of people love it, but it didn’t connect with me very much. it was okay)

NO:
Cruel Beauty (boring but also very troublesome)
Passenger (i absolutely HATE this book. so boring, unlikeable MC, just no)
Splintered (i hate this book more than Passenger. one of the love interests is very manipulative & controlling. one of my most hated books)

Thank you so much for your comment! I do plan to keep Daughter of Smoke and Bone; I read and really enjoyed Strange the Dreamer, so I definitely need to at least give the series a shot. I’ve also heard a lot of good things about Jackaby and The Diviners, so hopefully I enjoy them!
I’m keeping Landline (at least for now) because I did really enjoy Rainbow Rowell’s YA books and I’d like to check out her adult books.
I’m honestly surprised that I’ve heard bad things about Cruel Beauty and Splintered! I had previously thought that most people really enjoyed both of them. Not sure how I feel about that yet. Again, thanks so much for your participation! I really appreciate it. 🙂

Between the Lines is one of those books that just comes out okay. It has a fun premise, but the writing never really does a good job. I was really disappointed with Splintered, but that might just be me. I remember liking Incarceron,but I couldn’t tell you anything about the book now so it’s one of those really forgettable books, I guess? Maybe worth taking off for that reason alone, but idk.

Whatever you do, though, do NOT read Unravel Me. It ruined the entire series for me and honestly I kind of hate Mafi for it. She basically turned a really good book series with a lot of potential into the sort of book that promotes absuive relationships as romantic and I think I’ll forever be furious about it. Trust me, you’re better off leaving with the first book (which I thought was fantastic) and imagining your own ending cause the actual book series went in the worst possible direction imo.

I am, however, utterly in LOVE with the Gone series and Passenger. They’re both pretty high on my favorite books ever read list. Be forewarned, though, the farther you get with the Gone series, the darker it gets.

Hope that helped! And of course, you don’t have to listen to me cause we could have entirely different tastes, but yea.

Thank you so much for your fantastic comment!! I’ve actually heard that about Between the Lines quite frequently, so I think I’m going to take that one off. I’ve heard mixed things about Splintered, so I think I might tentatively give it a try? I can always DNF it if I’m not into it. I’ll take the strike against Incarceron too!
I know that a lot of people reeeeally love the Shatter Me series but I just don’t really care. I might pick up the first book again so I can actually remember it and be a part of the conversation, but I think I’m getting rid of the sequel.
I actually heard from someone else that there were problematic elements to the Gone series/Michael Grant, and upon googling, it sounds like there’s offensive autistic rep and Michael Grant has said some ableist things? I definitely need to look into that further, but do you know anything about either of those things?
No, I totally appreciate it! It’s super helpful; can’t wait to check out your blog. XD

I’ve heard Michael Grant (Gone) is problematic but I’m not sure of the reason why. I read the first couple of books in that series when they first came out and they drag a bit. Cruel Beauty is also a fairly average book with a not very well explained magic system. I also didn’t enjoy Jacakby at all!

Thanks so much for commenting! I’ll definitely look into the Gone series and see if I can figure out what’s problematic about it; I’m taking your strikes against Cruel Beauty and Jackaby into account as well!

Okay so there are many that I love on this list, but if I had to pick, I’d say read: The Forbidden Wish!! (Its an Aladdin retelling, there’s so much girl power–I don’t want to spoil anything but its just amazing!!) 😍💖📚🎉

I read it last month and ended up really enjoying it! It wasn’t my favorite book of all time or anything (I don’t understand the SUPER intense hype around it), but it was rather lovely and it was a good story, so it was definitely worth the read.